Interesting read.....

Q.. How can I trust advertisers claims when they all say their product is the best and back it up with dyno horsepower readings? If dynos are so accurate how can they prove more than one exhaust pipe or cam is better than the others? Only one can be the best!



A. How can three different cams made by three different manufacturers be the best? It's impossible. But you see this all the time. The advertisers do themselves a disservice by carelessly assuming that the Harley rider doesn't pick up on this. There was a time when not everyone had or had access to a dyno whose full name is more correctly referred to as a dynamometer. When someone made a dyno backed performance claim it was well respected and there were no conflicting claims---at least not with dyno readings as a backup. The dyno substantiated claim always took precedence over the others and life was simple and uncomplicated. Whether it was accurate or not is another thing entirely.

Bullshittin' the Customer

Furthermore the consumer of yesteryear was not as well informed as the Harley rider of today. Bullshitting them gets you nowhere as they'll catch your fibbing or your lack of knowledge in a Kentucky fried second. I won't let anyone work in my shop that has the inability to admit that they don't know something but promise to find out and get back to the questioner as soon as possible. 'Cause you'll look like a real dork just shining them on when the new Harley people pick up on what you're doing. When I started riding and attempting to learn via reading magazine tech articles it was a real joke. Not only did I not know what I was doing but neither did the magazine tech writers of the day. The blind were leading the blind. It's a different ball game now. Tell the truth or don't waste your breath because you'll get caught and that person will never believe you again.

The Whole Truth!

It's the same with some advertisers who have a lot of learning to do about being not only truthful but to tell the whole truth and be fully forthright with every relevant aspect of it. I hope I closed every loophole with the last statement. After we eliminate the outright liars we run across the next issue which is being fully forthright in the claims.

Here's the problem.

More than one product can be the best if all the relevant data is given! Huh??? Okay, now say the advertisers are all claiming their exhaust is the best and they all publish dyno graphs to prove their claims. Not only that, but they say the dyno readings were done by a separate non-affiliated company that is well respected in the industry.

A Level Playing Field

When this happens, as it seems to in almost every case, it will demonstrate that these companies are not playing on a level playing field. That is to say that other component parts not listed in the ads are different. For example one cam may produce higher gains with one exhaust than another and the same could be true for other parts such as carburetors, pushrod kits, valve springs, ignition systems etc. You, the consumer need to know this in order to make an educated decision but even then, comparisons will be difficult since the dyno runs will not reflect exactly which parts are in your bike or what you want to purchase for your ride Furthermore, the dyno run may have been done on a different model from yours. A Softail produces different power from a Heritage, an FLHT, an FXR, a Dyna and especially a Sportster and they have different power bands but more on this later. Different weight ratios produce different power. Transference of horsepower through more efficient power trains like that of the FXR also will alter figures. Or how about the fastest production Big Twin, Mr. Ugly itself, the FXRT, with its aerodynamic faring that slice through the wind instead of bulldozing it's way through life like the FLHT wasting horsepower by fighting the wind. With all this said and done, ge